Belt buckle or slide



5, 1937. w. STAPLES 2,066,914

BELT BUCKLE OR SLIDE Filed June 26, '1936 Enventor 23.5fm Zea;

Patented Jan. 5, 1937 PATENT OFFICE BELT BUCKLE 0R SLIDE Leonard W. Staples, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to The H. D. Lee Mercantile 00., Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Kansas Application June 26, 1936, Serial No. 87,374

6 Claims. (01. 24-163) This invention relates to tongueless belt buckles, frequently called a slide, and my object is to produce a buckle of this type which is suitable for cooperative action with belts of all types of material, such as relatively slick hard finishes Where the present type of slide cannot be relied upon to hold a reasonable degree of grip or tension on the belt.

All slides of this kind with which I am familiar depend entirely on friction to maintain tension on the belt. One object of my invention is to provide a slide of the general type mentioned in which the two outer bars, where they come into cooperative contact with the belt, are either of resilient material or are provided with edges or liners of resilient nature for yielding w slightly and increasing the frictional clamping pressure on the belt to resist loosening movement on increased tension as will hereinafter appear. The deviceshould also be water' proof to resist absorption of moisture and staining in use.

Another object of the invention in a modified form is to produce a belt buckle of relatively soft resilient nature throughout, which possesses the novel gripping feature of the invention and lends itself to use where the buckle may contact and mar highly finished surfaces or materials.

With the general objects named in view and others as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel and useful features of construction and organization of parts as hereinafter desecribed and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a belt and belt buckle embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line "II-11 of Figure 1 to bring out the effect of tension reaction to tighten the grip on the belt, the belt being shown in elevation.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary detail to show the gripping edge of the buckle, one of the resilient gripping sections being omitted.

Figure 4 is a section through a buckle embodying the invention, but of modified form, the belt appearing in elevation.

In the said drawing, where like reference characters identify corresponding parts in all of the figures, A represents a buckle or slide comprising a center bar I connected at its ends to the ends of a pair of outer bars 2 and 3 spaced about equal distances from the center bar and on the opposite sides thereof, said buckle being of metal or other suitable material possessing the desired stiifness.

The inner edges of the outer bars 2 and 3 are provided with a bead or the like 4, on which) liners 5 of relatively soft resilient rubber, rubber substitutes, or other water-proof resilient material, are removably or permanently secured, for contact with the outer surface of a belt 6. The liners 5 will materially increase the grip or frictional adhesion between the buckle and the belt, and by slight variations in adhesiveness and. in shape at the point of contact with the belt, may be made to impose more or less resistance to, a loosening or slackening of a tensioned belt. In the preferred type of construction, the tendency of the belt buckle to adhere to the material of the belt, should be such that before the belt will slip under the buckle, the contacting edge of the buckle will be fiexedor bowed as shown in Figure 2. This has the effect of increasing the clamping pressure on the belt to resist slippage because the contacting edge commences to bend and lessen the distance between ,the body of the wearer and the back of the buckle and also tends to bring an increased area of contact between the buckle and the belt. Upon slackening of the strain the buckle resiliently returns to original position.

Figure 4 illustrates a belt buckle embodying the features of operation above mentioned, in which a metal slide B is entirely covered with. soft resilient water-proof material, such as rubber or the like. The slide B comprises a center bar I and two outer bars 8, or any other suitable reinforcement to give it the desired degree of stiffness, and the whole is embedded as shown, at 9.

From the above description and drawing, it will be apparent that I have produced a belt buckle embodying the features of advantage set forth as desirable; and while I have described and illustrated what now appear to be the most desirable construction, it is understood that I reserve the right to make such changes as fall within the spirit of the invention and without the ambit of the prior art.

I claim:

1. A belt buckle comprising three spaced parallel bars connected in fixed relation at their opposite ends, the edges of the outer bars where. adapted to contact a belt being water-proof and compressibly resilient for resisting strain imposed. by a. belt.

2. A belt buckle having a clamping bar of water-proof compressible resilient material capable of distortion by reactive strain imposed by a belt.

3. A belt buckle having a rigid clamping bar provided with a water-proof compressible resilient clamping edge susceptible to being distorted by reactive strain imposed by a belt.

4. A belt buckle comprising three spaced rigid parallel bars connected in fixed relation at their opposite ends, adapted to receive a belt extending under the two outer bars and over the center bar, and a water-proof compressible resilient edge along the inner margins of the two outer bars adapted for frictional yielding clamping engagement with the outer surface of the belt.

5. A belt buckle comprising three spaced parallel bars connected in fixed relation at their opposite ends and adapted to receive a belt extending under the two outer bars and over the center bar, and water-proof compressible resilient material on the edges of the outer bars for contact with the belt, said material being capable of doubling back in resistance to strain imposed. by the belt.

6. A belt buckle comprising three spaced parallel nonfiexible bars connected in fixed relation at their opposite ends, and a. soft compressible water-proof resilient encasement covering said bars and their connecting portions.

LEONARD W. STAPLES. 

